Gabriele Cierniak
[Person] [Project]
Gabriele Cierniak, Dipl. Psych.
Short Vita
- 1978:
- Born in Pforzheim (Germany)
- 1998-2005:
- Study of Psychology at the University of
- Koblenz-Landau (Germany)
- 10/2005:
- Graduation in Psychology at the University of
- Koblenz-Landau (Germany).
- Thesis: "Wiederholungsstrategien beim multimedialen
- Lernen als Manipulation kognitiver Prozesse"
- [Repetition Strategies in Multimedia Learning
- as Manipulation of Cognitive Processes]
- Since November 2005:
- PhD student of the VGK
Contact
Phone: ++49 (0) 7071 / 979 305
FAX: ++49 (0) 7071 / 979 100
email: g.cierniak@iwm-kmrc.de
WWW: http://www.iwm-kmrc.de/gci.htmlUniversität Tübingen
Lehrstuhl für Angewandte Kognitionspsychologie und Medienpsychologie
Konrad-Adenauer-Str. 40
D-72072 Tübingen (Germany)
Ph.D. Project
Topic: "What causes the expertise reversal effect?"Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dr. F. W. Hesse (Tübingen)
Start of the Ph.D. Project: 11/2005
Summary
The phenomenon that instructional methods that are highly effective with inexperienced learners can lose their effectiveness and even have negative consequences when used with more experienced learners is termed expertise reversal effect (ERE). One of the latest explanations of the ERE comes from researchers who take cognitive load theory as rationale. According to them, methods that are highly effective with lower prior knowledge learners are rather redundant for higher prior knowledge learners. High unnecessary redundancy, however, causes high extraneous cognitive load for higher prior knowledge learners. High extraneous load forces learners to invest high mental effort during learning but not to benefit from it (Kalyuga, Ayres, Chandler & Sweller, 2003; Kalyuga, Chandler & Sweller, 1998). The ERE is an example of an aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) that shows the importance of taking individual learner characteristics into consideration when one discusses the most effective instructional method (Cronbach & Snow, 1977; Gagné, 1967; Snow & Lohman, 1984). A closer look into ATI literature reveals two further possible explanations of the ERE that consider mental effort as the underlying mechanism. The two alternatives to the (1) above mentioned extraneous load mechanism are (2) the substitution hypothesis that instructions that are effective with lower prior knowledge learners supplant relevant cognitive processes, and hence, prevent higher prior knowledge learners to invest their own learning relevant mental effort (Clark, 1982; McNamara et al., 1996; Snow, 1977) and (3) the appraisal-motivation hypothesis that lower and higher prior knowledge learners differ in their self-efficacy and perceptions of instructions that seduce higher prior knowledge learners not to invest enough mental effort, although they could (Salomon, 1983). The objectives of the dissertation project are (1) to replicate the ERE in text materials as well as in labelled diagrams and (2) if found to ascertain whether mental effort measured with subjective ratings, pupil dilatation and secondary task performance is, in fact, the mechanism of the ERE by conducting moderated mediation analyses (Baron & Kenny, 1986) and (3) if so which of the three proposed mental effort mechanisms is most appropriate.
References
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182.
Clark, R. E. (1982). Antagonism between achievement and enjoyment in ATI studies. Educational Psychologist, 17(2), 92-101.
Cronbach, L. J., & Snow, R. E. (1977). Aptitudes and instructional methods. New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc.
Gagn é, R. M. (1967). Learning research and its implications for independent learning. In G. T. Gleason (Ed.), The theory and nature of independent learning. Scranton, Pennsylvania: International Textbook Company.
Kalyuga, S., Ayres, P., Chandler, P. & Sweller, J. (2003). The expertise reversal effect. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 23-31.
Kalyuga, S., Chandler, P. & Sweller, J. (1998). Levels of expertise and instructional design. Human Factors, 40(1), 1-17.
McNamara, D., Kintsch, E., Songer, N. B & Kintsch, W. (1996). Are good texts always better? Interactions of text coherence, background knowledge, and levels of understanding in learning from text. Cognition & Instruction, 14(1), 1-43.
Salomon, G. (1983). The differential investment of mental effort in learning from different sources. Educational Psychologist, 18(1), 42-50.
Snow, R. E. (1977). Learning and individual differences. In L. S. Shulman (Ed.). Review of Research in Education. (Vol.4). Itsaca, Ill.: F. E. Peacock.
Snow, R. E., & Lohman, D. F. (1984). Toward a theory of cognitive aptitude for learning from instruction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(3), 347-376.
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Last update 18 May 2006
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